🧭
Cowork · AI agent for work
An agent that completes the work
Cowork does more than answer a question. It can carry out a sequence of steps, create or edit files, work across Microsoft 365 and pause when it needs your decision.
Availability, models and actions depend on your Copilot license and your organization's settings.
What makes Cowork an agent
🗣️You describe the resultFor example, a briefing, revised workbook and meeting.
🧩It loads the skillsCowork chooses capabilities for files, search and communication.
⚙️It performs the stepsIt works across the sources and apps available to you.
✋You supervise actionsReview progress and approve sensitive steps.
What Cowork can actually do
The value is not a longer chat response. Cowork can turn the response into files and actions.
📝Create and edit files
Ask it to create Word, Excel, PowerPoint or PDF outputs, or update files in OneDrive and SharePoint. Be clear whether it should revise the original or save a new version.
📬Work across Microsoft 365
It can combine email, calendar, Teams, meetings and enterprise search—for example, draft an update, prepare the attachment and arrange the review meeting.
🔎Research and follow through
It can gather information, create a briefing and prepare the communication or deliverables that come next, rather than stopping at the findings.
Chat or Cowork?
Use this practical test: is the answer the finished work, or does useful work still need to happen after the answer?
Choose
Use it when
What you receive
Copilot Chat
You need an answer, summary, rewrite, brainstorm or one focused analysis.
A response that you will review and act on yourself.
Cowork
You need dependent steps across files, messages, meetings or several deliverables.
Completed outputs and proposed actions, with progress and approvals.
Researcher / Analyst
The main job is deep cited research or quantitative analysis.
A specialist report or analysis, without the same cross-app execution.
Custom agent
The same role, knowledge and process should be available repeatedly.
A reusable assistant designed for that recurring job.
Supervision is part of the workflow
👀Watch the plan and progress
Cowork shows the steps and skills it is using. If it starts from the wrong file or makes the wrong assumption, redirect it before later steps build on the mistake.
✅Approve the exact action
Before an email, meeting, file change or share action, check the recipient, date, location, permissions and version—not only whether the wording looks good.
⏸️Pause without losing the task
You can pause, resume or cancel when priorities change. Cowork is designed for supervised delegation, not unattended authority.
A request that uses Cowork well
Prepare me for tomorrow's QBR. Use the latest material in the QBR folder and this week's relevant meetings. Update a copy of the existing QBR workbook without changing its formulas, create a one-page Word brief with changes, risks and decisions, and draft a five-slide deck. Show me every output and ask before sending, sharing or scheduling anything.
The useful details are operational: which file may be edited, what must remain unchanged, where new files should go, and which actions need approval.
💡Key insightChoose Cowork when the deliverable is a set of files or actions. Choose Chat when a good answer is enough.
The system behind the task
🧠ModelShapes speed, depth and response style.
🧰SkillsProvide file, communication, search and scheduling abilities.
🔐PermissionsSet which work content and actions are available.
🛡️ApprovalsKeep sensitive actions under your control.
Model choice changes the thinking—not the authority
Cowork's picker can include GPT and Claude models, depending on what your organization enables. Microsoft recommends Auto for most day-to-day work.
✨Auto is the useful default
Auto selects a model for the task, so you do not need to predict which model will work best before every request.
⚖️A model changes the response
A different model can change speed, reasoning depth and output style. It does not give Cowork new Microsoft 365 permissions or bypass approval controls.
🏢Your list may look different
Administrators can limit model families and preview models. Some choices may also have different data-retention notices, which Cowork shows in the picker.
Skills turn a request into actions
Skill group
What Cowork can use it for
Typical output
Files
Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF and image creation or editing.
A saved file or revised copy, not only pasted text.
Communication
Email, Teams posts and communications based on the task.
A draft or an approved send/post action.
Time and meetings
Scheduling, calendar management, meeting preparation and briefings.
A proposed or approved calendar change and supporting material.
Knowledge
Enterprise search, deep research and connected work sources.
Findings that feed the files and actions in the same task.
Custom skills and approved plugins can add a repeatable method or business action. That is different from simply asking Cowork to remember a long instruction.
For file editing, define the version outcome
📁Name the file and destination
Point to the exact OneDrive or SharePoint file. Say whether Cowork should overwrite it, update a copy or create a new file in a named folder.
🧮Protect what must not change
For workbooks and templates, identify formulas, sheet names, formatting, labels or sections that must remain intact while content is updated.
🔗Check downstream effects
A technically correct edit can still break links, permissions, review flows or shared expectations. Review the saved version in its real location.
🧾Ask for an edit summary
Have Cowork list what it changed and where it saved the result. This is more useful than reviewing the final prose without knowing the file operations.
Where Cowork is the wrong tool
💬The answer is enough
Use Chat for a quick explanation, rewrite or summary. Cowork adds time and supervision that a single response does not need.
🔬One specialist task dominates
Use Researcher for a deep cited investigation and Analyst when the core job is structured data analysis.
🤖The process should be reusable
Use a custom agent when many people need the same instructions, knowledge and business process—not a one-time supervised task.
Review high-impact work in stages
Approvals prevent Cowork from taking some sensitive actions without you. They do not prove that the research, interpretation or file changes are correct.
Inspect the sourcesConfirm that Cowork selected the right files, messages and time period.
Review draft outputsCheck numbers, decisions, names and file changes before execution.
Approve the actionVerify recipients, dates, permissions and the exact change being made.
Check the resultOpen the saved file, sent message or calendar item in its destination.
🛡️Important limitationCowork can misunderstand instructions or encounter malicious hidden instructions inside content. Existing permissions limit what it can access, but important communications, personal information, payments and file changes still need active human review.